Risk of exposure to ticks and tick-borne pathogens in Oklahoma State Parks

Oklahoma has one of the highest annual incidence rates for tick-borne diseases in the United States. These included Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Rocky Mountain spotted fever in persons and canine ehrlichiosis and hepatozoonosis in companion animals. Oklahoma state parks are well-visited, ranking 15^th in the nation for annual visitation. The presence of these tick-borne pathogens and their tick vectors leads to increased risks for park workers and those using the parks for recreation purposes. Given that not all state parks have the same risk levels and are located in varying ecoregions, it is hypothesized that there is a higher risk of encountering ticks and tick-borne pathogens in state parks in the eastern area of the state than in the central or western areas. Between April and August 2015, ticks were collected from six state parks across Oklahoma by flagging vegetation along state park trails for 20 minutes. From early analysis and field collections to date, there is a significantly higher risk for encountering Amblyomma americanum and Ixodes scapularis ticks during the spring and summer months in the eastern state parks compared to the western state park where only Dermacentor variabilis was collected. Future research will focus on testing the ticks for various Rickettsia spp. as well as Ehrlichia chaffeensis.